Endless Possibilites
by Lady Silvamord
Summary: Tenten has a talk with one of her beloved teammates about his love life. Or, rather, lack thereof. Twoparter, complete.
1. Matchmaker, Matchmaker

**Title:** Endless Possibilities

**Author:** Lady Silvamord

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Tenten and one of her teammates have a talk about his love life. Or, rather, lack thereof…

**Notes:** Part one of two.

-

Neji should have known that when Tenten summoned him to her apartment, things were going to end badly.

Their team meetings had always been held in one of their training areas, or Gai-sensei's or Lee's house. Meetings were only held at either Neji's or Tenten's homes when things were extremely grave.

But, being the fool he was, Neji had accepted Tenten's _invitation_ to her place, and now sat somewhat awkwardly on a lavender sofa, shooting disdainful looks at the dog toys and collars that were scattered around the otherwise neat living room.

"I'm glad you came," Tenten said sweetly, emerging from the kitchen with two cups of tea. She poured the scalding tea for both of them, using the wrist that hadn't been injured in her last mission. Handing the cup with pink flowers to him, she sat down on the chew-toy free armchair across from him. The weapons master smiled, disarmingly sweet.

Neji knew his female teammate far too well to be fooled by the act. He sipped the tea, his eyes never leaving her face. "You said that you had something important to discuss with me, Tenten?"

She set her cup down, reached across for a shuriken, and absentmindedly began to polish it. "Well, Neji…to tell the truth, you've been worrying me of late."

"And why should _you_ worry about _me_?"

More polishing. "Um…it's not you as a whole, it's a certain aspect of your life."

"Just say it and get it over with," he said, unconcerned.

Tenten summoned up her courage. "It's your love life!"

The Hyuuga gave her his variation of a dumfounded stare. "…Excuse me?"

A lesser mortal would have quailed at the sound of his voice, but Tenten had heard worse. "When's the last time you were out on a date?"

Silence.

"When's the last time you even _looked_ at a girl?"

"I see at you every day. I see Hinata almost as often. I see Haruno Sakura every time I'm at the hospital. I saw the Yamanaka girl last time Lee dragged me to buy flowers. I saw Sabaku no Temari a few months ago. Need I continue?" Neji's patience was stretching thin. Hinata had attempted to broach this subject with him a few weeks ago, and he had ignored her until she gave up.

Tenten sighed, struggling with her words. "Neji…are you…" she paused, unable to continue.

It took him all of a second to piece together what she meant. "Kami-sama, _no_!" Neji exclaimed, his shell of icy composure cracked. "What on earth gave you that idea?"

"Well, um, you've never shown interest in girls before--"

Anything else she was going to say was cut off by Neji's venomous glare. "Which does not mean I am secretly getting it on with Naruto, or Shikamaru, or…the Uchiha traitor."

"Sorry, Neji," mumbled Tenten, blushing. She hardly ever apologized like this, but then, to him, it had probably been a deeply offensive insult.

"Why the sudden interest in my love life, hmm?" he countered.

"Well, you're the only one in our team who's not seeing somebody. Kiba-kun and I, Gaara and Lee. You're the only one left out."

"Did you think it would actually _bother_ me?"

"Yes! I would have been bothered!"

"Tenten, you and I are very different."

The two teammates stared each other down. Neji knew that Tenten was planning something essentially kind-hearted, but would instead make him feel irritated and miserable, and decided to wait and see what the plan was this time.

He hadn't expected her to pull out a scroll. "The possibilities are endless. Hinata, Ino, Temari, Kurenai, Anko, and Sakura."

"Excuse me?"

"I am going to say their names, and you are going to tell me what you think of having them as your romantic partner." Her brown eyes had a fiercely determined glint in them, a glint that he knew all too well.

Deciding to humor her, Neji gave a world-weary sigh. "Fine. Begin."

"Hinata."

"Her father would hardly approve. Besides…she's always liked Naruto."

"Out, then? Ino."

Neji searched his memory. Ino. Ah, the blonde chuunin who worked at the flower shop. "Pretty, I suppose, but too loud and obnoxious for my taste. I'd expect her to be more partial toward either Shikamaru or Choji, in any case."

Tenten crossed the name out, looking a bit miffed. "Temari?" The tone in her voice suggested that she was only mentioning the Sand shinobi for formality's sake.

"What do you think, Tenten?"

"Out, then," smirked the kuinoichi. "Kurenai?"

"Tenten…you know me better than that."

"I suppose that goes for Anko as well?"

Neji rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Which leaves one." Tenten snapped the scroll shut, and gave him a self-satisfied look. "Sakura."

"Haruno Sakura?"

"The only Sakura we know."

Silence. "I admire her skills. She's an excellent medic."

Tenten mulled over his words for a moment, looking into his white eyes. Something told her to press on. "Her personality?"

"…Pleasant." He remembered waking up to her concerned, yet reassuring, eyes the night after all the bones in his shoulder had been shattered. "Interesting. Lively."

He remembered lying in his hospital bed, listening to her chatter on and on about stories about former patients and other such things. He remembered listening to her stories, to distract himself from the blinding pain in his shoulder.

"Spirited."

He remembered her yelling at him to take his medicine and just accept that he would be in the hospital for the next three months, and that his energies would be better spent trying to rest and recover, instead of railing at fate for putting him in this position.

Neji opened his eyes. Tenten beamed at him, eyes sparkling. "Oh, Neji! You like Sakura!"

If he had been anybody else, he might have blushed. "I do not. I was just stating certain personality traits that I find admirable about her."

Tenten considered that. "You like Sakura. And it's pointless denying it. You would have gone on and on about her if you could have. You probably do, when you're alone."

Neji shot a dark glance at the volume of _ANBU Romance_ on her coffee table. She had made more sense before she started to read romance novels.

"So…what are you going to do about it?"

He reached up, rubbing his sore neck. "It's a mere infatuation, I suppose. It shall pass."

"Which is what I thought when I started dating Kiba-kun," she replied, waving her right hand at his face, so that he got a clear look at her engagement ring. "And look at us now!"

Neji sighed. "It's doubtful that I feel toward Sakura what you and Kiba feel toward each other."

"There's only one way to find out," smirked Tenten.

He stood up. "And I just decided I don't wish to know."

Tenten sprang up and grabbed his arm. "You've got to ask her out on a date, Neji! And then you'll know how you _really_ feel about her!"

Neji thought the conversation had gotten bad enough. He could barely stomach it, in fact. Another few words, and he would be physically ill.

But when he heard the word _date_, his world just collapsed around his ears.

Tenten grinned.

-

Reviews appreciated. -grin-


	2. The Date

Part two of two. _Thank you_ so much to everyone who reviewed! I had a huge Tenten-esque grin on my face for the whole day. 

-

"Do I have to do this _today_?" muttered Neji, as they wove through the crowded Konoha streets.

"I told you before, you'll lose your initiative if you don't do it immediately," Tenten replied patiently. "Besides, there's no time like the present. Wait--isn't your apartment here?"

"Mmm-hmm." He fiddled with the lock, and they entered the apartment that he shared with Lee. Tenten had been in here before, of course, but the surplus of green just seemed to get more shocking each time she visited.

Tenten dropped her pack, and turned around to face her former teammate, whose arms were crossed across his chest. He was scowling at the floor. "I await your instructions," he told her. The tone of his voice made it quite clear that he expected to hear something ridiculous.

She circled him, smirking at the almost tangible murderous feelings that emanated from his entire being. "You need a hot shower," she proclaimed. "Wash your hair with your best shampoo. Shave, even though you don't particularly need to. Try and do something about the circles under your eyes. You might want to do some plucking, too."

Neji arched an eyebrow.

Tenten giggled nervously. "Never mind about the, um, plucking. I'm just used to helping Hinata get ready for her dates." Before he could properly register the words _Hinata_ and _dates_, the weapons master placed her hands on his back and steered him through the halls until she figured out where the bathroom was. It was hard to distinguish the rooms here-everything was just too green.

Neji looked back at her before closing the door. "Anything else?"

"I don't suppose you have any exfoliating scrubs or moisturizers?"

Neji shut the door in her face.

Laughing, Tenten walked across the hallway to his room. It was a very pale shade of green; almost white. She wondered how long Neji had to bug Lee to get him to agree to the new shade. Aside from basic furniture, Neji's room was bare, so finding where he kept his clothes was a simple matter.

ANBU uniform, everyday jounin gear, training shirts and pants, yet more training outfits, Hyuuga robes…

Tenten sighed, feeling more and more frustrated as she dug through the clothes. Did Neji own any nice dress shirts or pants? Somehow, she doubted it.

After ten minutes of rummaging and trying to mix and match, Tenten was forced to settle on the Hyuuga robes. They would work well enough, and they were ironed already.

Besides, the blue ties and cream material would complement his eyes quite nicely.

Gathering the robes in her arms, Tenten crossed over to Lee's room. This one was considerably more cluttered, but she soon found what she was looking for.

Cologne. Bottles and bottles of it. In every fragrance imaginable.

After finally settling on one bottle, she dragged her load back over to the bathroom and knocked sharply on the door, after waiting for the sounds of the shower to subside.

"What?" Neji barked, from the other side of the door, as he pulled on his robe.

"I have your things!" called Tenten. Before she could knock again, the door was opened, and a very cranky-looking Hyuuga faced her. "What's wrong with _you_?"

He covered his hair with a towel protectively when she turned toward him, brandishing a hairbrush. "…It's the hair care products," he muttered, at last. "Lee used the last of mine. I was stuck with the _Very Berry Sensation_."

"Nothing wrong with that," Tenten countered, pulling away the towel. "It's my favorite."

"It's also _Gaara's_."

Tenten paled slightly, brushing the hair with greater vigor until it hung down his back, tangle-free and smelling strongly of assorted berries. "The robes are good," he said at last, his fingers brushing through the items she had deposited on the counter. "Wait. What's _this_?"

Neji was holding the cologne away from him at arm's length, frowning as if it was something deeply distasteful, and the kunoichi confiscated it.

"It's cologne, Neji. It makes you smell nice." Tenten pointed the bottle at him, her finger poised on the spray button.

Neji backed away unwittingly. "Come any closer, woman, and I will Kaiten you into the next apartment."

Tenten sprayed the cologne.

When Neji was again visible through the mist, he glared at her. "_Only_ for Sakura am I putting myself through this humiliation."

"Whatever you say, Hyuuga. Put your clothes on and meet me in the living room."

--

Ten minutes later, Neji emerged from the bathroom, looking slightly less cranky. He had discovered that the cologne masked the scent of his hair, and that was only a good thing. Tenten was sitting on the couch, waiting.

"Sit," she instructed.

Neji sat.

Tenten studied him for a few moments, before giggling suddenly. "I cannot believe you're almost twenty-one years old and have never been on a date." Waving off his glare, she looked over at the clock. "Sakura would be at the hospital now. You are going to go to the hospital, require to see Haruno Sakura, and when you see her, you will make some small talk before asking her to go out with you."

"…Would that be dinner?"

"Ooh, you catch on fast. Or a movie, or a moonlit walk. Use that famous imagination of yours."

Neji had a sudden idea.

"And _no_ nighttime training sessions, because that would not be romantic."

"Ah."

"And above all, don't get nervous. Don't stammer or say anything stupid. Now, go. I'm going to stay here and wait for Lee--he'll be back from Sand in a couple of hours, anyway."

Neji stood up, feeling something unfamiliar in his chest. "Thank you, Tenten."

His friend rose and gave him a hug, and he smelled her familiar lavender and metal. "I'm glad that you've finally found someone, Neji. Good luck."

--

Ten minutes later found the Hyuuga striding through the streets, wishing that it wasn't quite so warm. His skin was already flushed, and he refused to amount it to anything besides the heat.

He glared at a bush of lilacs he was passing, cursing Tenten's penchant for matchmaking. The kunoichi had been responsible for at least half of all the couples in Konoha, it seemed. Wondering what on earth he was going to say to Sakura, Neji paused in front of the hospital doors.

He had fought S-rank criminals. He had passed the infamous jounin exams with flying colors. He was widely considered as the greatest prodigy in the Hyuuga family.

And the mere _thought_ of asking the pink-haired jounin-to-be on a date filled him with unease.

Summoning every ounce of his considerable amount ofcourage, Neji strode through the glass doors and requested to see Haruno Sakura. The apprentice in front of him checked his papers. "She is seeing a patient right now--however, you can wait for her in her office, in room 301."

When Neji entered the empty office, he wasn't quite sure what to expect. Some part of him thought it would probably be decked out in pink or green décor, with pictures of flowers on the walls.

He was pleasantly surprised to see that the office was painted in mainly neutral tones-light blues and cream. The desk and chairs were made out of the same polished wood that he could find in his uncle's office. The walls _did_ have pictures of flowers on them, but they were done in light oils, and were considerably less bright and flashy than he had expected.

"Neji?" asked a surprised voice, after a few minutes. Sakura entered the room, closing the door behind her, and gave him a smile. "You're not due for a checkup for two weeks. Could it be that you're actually beginning to care about your own well-being?"

"Just a little bit. But I blame it on your negative influence."

She grinned mischievously, before flinging herself down on the leather sofa with a relieved sigh. "Come on, sit."

Neji sat, thinking that women seemed to enjoy ordering him around. "You look exhausted."

"Long day." She stretched. "I actually have a break coming up in about ten minutes. Then I get a grand total of two hours off, and then I have the all-night shift."

"Harsh," he commiserated, while mentally thanking her for the unwitting opening she gave him. Maybe this asking-Sakura-out thing wasn't going to be that difficult, after all.

"Oh, I forgot, you ANBU people have hours like that almost every day." The medic-nin tempered her words with an affectionate smile. "Tsunade-sama considered appointing me, but…I wasn't sure if I could adjust to that lifestyle. I've become rather attached to my sleep."

"One gets used to losing it, after the first few months. I've found that it's overrated."

Sakura laughed, partly out of surprise. In the year and a half that she had known him as more than just an acquaintance, she sill hadn't gotten used to his dry sense of humor. He had always looked so humorless, before. She supposed that it just showed that one didn't really know a person until you had been their medic for months at a time.

Come to think of it…

Neji looked a little uncomfortable. "Sakura?" he asked abruptly.

"Mmm?"

"I…do you…I mean, do you have any plans for your break?"

Sakura had a vague inkling of what was going on, before she shrugged that away. Just the wishful thinking of a young woman who hadn't been on a date in years. Nothing more. "No, actually, I don't."

Neji took a deep breath. "Would you like to go out with me? For dinner?"

Sakura felt her world collapse around her ears. "Are you _serious_?" she all but squeaked.

The Hyuuga prodigy gave her one of his custom what-do-you-_think_ looks, but she couldn't see the flash of uncertainty in his white eyes.

Before he could say anything more, the kunoichi startled them both by flinging her arms around him, knocking him over to the other side of the sofa. She was a little surprised to notice that he smelled vaguely of cologne and _Very Berry Sensation_. "That sounds like a lovely idea," she beamed, before letting go of him.

The entire smiling business was somewhat unfamiliar to him, but Neji attempted one anyway. It wasn't as brilliant as Lee's, being rather shy, but Sakura seemed to like it. He stood and helped her up; as she led him out of the office, Neji couldn't help but walk a little taller, feeling a sense of self-accomplishment.

"Aren't those lilacs nice?" Sakura asked as they passed the bush he had glowered at, not an hour earlier.

"They're beautiful," he concurred.

As the sun set, Neji found it ironic, that with Sakura happily walking beside him, the world looked a lot brighter than it had that morning.

--

The next afternoon at Ichiraku, Tenten was eating her customary lunch of chicken ramen. She hadn't seen either Neji or Sakura since last evening, when she had sent him off, and she wondered what happened between them. Judging by the high success ratings of those she set up, the weapons master was willing to bet that their date had went well.

Her musings were cut off by the sudden arrival of her pink-haired friend. "Good afternoon, Tenten!" Sakura greeted cheerfully, setting down her pack and climbing onto a stool beside her.

"You look happy," said Tenten mischievously. "Anything I should know about?"

"You'll never believe what happened last evening."

"Oh? What?"

"Neji asked me out on a date. Neji!"

"You're joking." Tenten took a large bite of her ramen, to conceal her big smile.

"I never joke," Sakura quipped, using the stolen phrase.

She clicked her chopsticks. "Details?"

As Sakura quite happily indulged, Tenten grinned.

She was going to be absolutely _unbearable_ at their wedding.

-

_end_

-

Thoughts?


End file.
